The player

The Grateful Dead game is a strange idea, but it wouldn't be the first oddball band tie-in, writes JOE GRIFFIN

A PSYCHEDELIC 1960s band might not sound like the perfect match for a game tie-in, but The Grateful Dead game may just be the most eccentric band tie-in of all time.

Adam Blumenthal, founder of Curious Sense, The Grateful Dead's game developer, told the Wall Street Journalthat he was "itching" to repurpose an animated sequence from 1977's Grateful Dead movie, and that the game will take inspiration from the band's vibrant album artwork.

Even if you exclude the Rock Band, Guitar Heroand dance games, musicians and games have had a strange and rich history.

Entrepreneur and rapper 50 Cent is the star of not one but two violent shooters. In Bulletproofand Blood on the Sand, you control the star as he settles numerous feuds with a gun. In the latter game the rapper is shown both performing a gig in the Middle East and popping caps in numerous enemies.

Wu Tang Shaolin Style was a touch more irreverent. Hip-hop icons The Wu Tang Clan are well-known for their love of martial arts; they perform some combat moves in the video for Gravel Pit, and Rza did score work for Kill Billand is directing a martial arts movie himself. The game (released by Activision) does have some of the Wu's style and panache, though I doubt the real Ol' Dirty Bastard has his avatar's discipline and skill.

It's not surprising that glam rockers Kiss also dipped into the well – they've merchandised their name to everything from coffins to calendars. Kiss: Psycho Circuswas a controversial and gothic first-person shooter. It arrived two years after the album it was supposed to tie in with (in 2000), and was dismissed by many as a Doomrip-off.

As with The Grateful Dead, Kiss's older demographic made the band a strange candidate for game tie-ins. At least Aerosmith won plenty of new fans in the 1980s and 1990s. Their Revolution Xgame was a shooter in which you had to rescue the band. Some say it was intended to pave the way for a similar Public Enemy game, but that never happened.

The nadir, for this writer, is last year’s Jonas Brothers videogame for Nintendo. Tasks included waking up your sleeping brothers, wearing wacky clothes and running from fans. Even by band tie-in standards, it was a charmless game with awkward controls.

At least The Grateful Dead game won’t have big shoes to fill.